Simplify Life. Weekend Reads: Consciously Single-Tasking
“Single-Tasking is a tool used to rid yourself from distraction in favor of focusing on what’s important so you can find Calmness.”
I have a COMMITMENT to make:
I want to practice consciously Single-Tasking. Wish me luck!
Despite reading and talking on Single-Tasking, I find hard to focus on it. I often return to multi-tasking and distraction.
I’d like to blame my so many goals for distraction, but I am committed to make 100% possible Single-Tasking.
I started this blog to document my thoughts; practices to develop daily writing habit, follow minimalism, simplify my life and share my work with others.
Here, I have chosen intentionally each post to inspire Single-Tasking in your life. So, enjoy some encouraging words in a quiet moment with a fresh cup of coffee today.
Pick one important task, and give it your entire focus. Finish that (or at least a chunk that you choose to work on right now), and then do the same with the next task. There’s simply no better way to get things done, one important task at a time. Even small tasks benefit from single-tasking with focus.
But knowing this and actually doing it are two different things. There are lots of things we know we should do, but putting them into practice, and being consistent about it, is simply much harder.
I think the answer is in intentional training.
The more tabs you have open, the more multitasking work you’re doing, and the less likely you are to be as productive as possible. The same goes for anything else that might distract you from your main objective. Working on multiple items at once is a recipe for inefficiency.
The truth is, your brain is not designed to do more than one thing at a time. It literally cannot achieve this, except in very rare circumstances. Instead, it toggles back and forth from one task to the next. For example, when you are driving while talking on the phone, your brain can either use its resources to drive or to talk on the phone, but never both. Scans show that when you talk on the phone, there is limited activation of your visual brain – suggesting you are driving without really watching. This explains how we can sometimes end up places without knowing exactly how we got there.
Frequently switching between tasks overloads the brain and makes you less efficient. It's a formula for failure in which your thoughts remain on the surface level and errors occur more frequently.
Now, get some fresh air…
One day, my doctor said to me ‘Dariel, I really envy you. I can imagine you and your beautiful wife sitting in your resort watching the sunset, drinking cocktails and looking out over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Except that I know you won’t be there. You’ll be dead.’
(If you’ve heard enough and are convinced to try it out yourself, Share your view and learning here in comment box.)